


Another Danganronpa Fanfic

by GiraffeGod123



Series: Prelude to Infinity [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 19:40:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30144585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GiraffeGod123/pseuds/GiraffeGod123
Summary: Rory Carlyle, the self proclaimed Ultimate Crime Boss, finds himself in a killing game with students of Hope's Peak Academy.
Series: Prelude to Infinity [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2218683
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	1. A Dreadful School Life

It was like floating through an endless sea of nothing. No life, no noise, completely empty. It was peaceful, all my worries drifted away into the nothingness, leaving me with an unending tranquility. But where was I? Who was I?

I yelled out into the void, receiving a deafening silence in response. I continued to yell for what felt like millennia until finally there was something, a light deep within the void. It felt like a loving mother’s embrace. It was warm. It was home. 

I reached out to the light, but it was just out of my reach. I tried again and again and again, my mind burning with exhaustion and on the verge of insanity. Each attempt was as fruitless as the last until the light dissipated into a beautiful shower of sparks. I was alone again.

But I can’t give up.

It’s time to try again, that’s what _he_ would do, isn’t it? He’d have hope- He was hope, but maybe I was never meant to be like him.

I opened my eyes, the sudden light blinding me for a few seconds. I was in a classroom, sitting at a barren desk and around me were more desks lined in neat rows, each one a dirty brown with a light layer of dust covering them. The room had an oppressive atmosphere, the kind that chokes you up and sets off that fight or flight response. 

The walls had a strange leopard print wallpaper, it looked odd, the paper torn, not the kind of thing you’d expect in a school. There was also a podium at the front of the room, a crest carved into its wood, it didn’t look like anything I’ve seen before. It was a circle with a badge in the center, in the badge was a quill and a feather, below it all were the words _High School._

Hope’s Peak Academy, that’s probably where I am. I moved to Japan for it, it was a prestigious academy, something you’d never pass up when offered. They said that you would be set for life when you graduated, not that I needed any help to be successful. I could barely remember entering the school for my first day, it all seemed so foggy.

In my confusion, I didn’t even notice the large plates that covered the windows. There were four large bolts on each side that pinned it to the wall. I walked towards the nearest one and knocked against it. The knocks echoed through the classroom, it was definitely metal. There was also a camera peering from the left corner of the room, I could feel a piercing gaze watching me from behind it. It felt like I was in a prison.

Behind the podium was a black board with the words “Go to The Gym” written on it. Well I doubt I’ll find any answers here, so I walk to the door at the far-right corner of the room to leave. It slides open, revealing a cold hallway illuminated by purple lights. I stepped onto the black and white checkered floor and looked in all directions for life.

There was no one, but there was a passageway leading to something labeled _Despair Hotel_ and another classroom door, both being to my right. The hallway was spacious, archways separated it into different squares and the walls seemed to be made out of a smooth but dirty marble. There were more cameras here, covering every angle of the hall.

Further to my left was a red cushioned door, it was deeper in the hallway with its own archway leading to it. It looked soft but I could feel the horrors behind it. I walked to it and gave the knob a forceful turn, but nothing happened.

To the right of the archway leading to the door was another hallway, this time lit up by green lights. The hallway led into a bigger area, a common area of sorts with a four-sided bench that takes up the center of the room. Just before the common area was a yellow door with a boombox on the front, it was labeled the A/V room by the sign above it.

There were two more doors in the common area, the school store to the right, and a glass door to the left. Above the glass door was an exit sign, the main hall maybe. It doesn’t matter, I continue down the hallway that has a few more doors, but nothing that looks like the gym, so I ignored them. Whoever brought me here probably wouldn’t like me being late. The hallway leads to a stairway up, and to the right of that, a doorway with the sign _gym_ above it. 

Finally.

I pulled the door open, but it only opened into a room with a red carpet leading to another pair of doors at the end. There was also a glass case to the left that held numerous trophies and accolades, with a few bigger statues and a golden sheathed katana in the center.

Walking to the next doorway, I again pulled them open, finally entering the gym. Unsurprisingly, I wasn’t alone. When the door opened, all their eyes shifted to me. 

“Hmph, so that makes 13 so far,” A blonde haired boy spoke with an arrogant tone. Twelve other people were here, each one seemed vastly unique compared to anyone else I’ve ever seen, but none were familiar.

The gym was what I expected, large, with wooden flooring. The red carpet from the room before continued here, leading to a bigger rectangle of carpet that had rows of chairs on it, probably for us. The walls were white, with more dark brown wood paneling that started at the floor and ended around seven feet up.

Past the chairs was a stage with a tiny staircase on both sides. There was a red curtain with the school’s crest that was the same length of the stage, hiding whatever was behind it. On the stage was a podium with a bonsai tree to the left of it.

I approached one of the others, a girl whose strawberry blonde hair was tied into two long pigtails, “I’m guessing you don’t know what’s going on either?” 

Her voice was snooty, almost fake, “It’s probably just some idiot creep pulling some kind of sick prank. It wouldn’t be the first time that's happened to me.”

She wore heavy amounts of makeup that was applied in such a manner that it made it seem like she mastered the art of beauty. Every part of her look seemed purposeful, defining each and every feature she has, from the bunny pin and white bow in her hair, to the black cardigan that reveals far more skin than what I would admit to looking at, it all complimented the rest of her look. Even the white tie that hung loosely from her neck down to the base of her miniskirt seemed to bring her whole outfit together, giving off this lazy but perfect vibe.

“Wouldn’t be the first time for me either,” I smiled towards her, “I’m Rory Carlyle by the way.” 

She looked confused when I said that, “Rory, huh? Doesn’t sound like the kinda name you’d hear around here.”

“Yeah, I recently just moved here this month. Hope’s Peak Academy is the kinda thing you move from the U.S for, y’know? I used to live back in Chicago though.”

“Oh cool! I've been to the States every now and then, for photoshoots and stuff. I’ve only ever really been to the big cities though”

“Really? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before, but I guess I'm not one for model magazines and such.” 

She smiled, “Well, the name’s Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Fashionista.” 

“You’re an Ultimate too?”

“Well duh, you have to be an Ultimate to get into Hope’s Peak. You got a talent, right?”

“Yeah, I’m the Ultimate Crime Boss.”

Her face seemed to light up,” Really? How does someone even get a title like that. Do you deal tons of drugs or something?”

“Basically yeah, you just gotta deal more drugs than any other gang in the country. I could give you a discount if you want though”

She laughed and playfully punched my arm.

I looked back at everyone else, now noticing two more new people, with another just entering in. The arrogant boy speaks again, “That makes 16 of us, a full class as I expected. Whoever brought us here is probably going to show themselves soon then.”

Another boy speaks up, “You’re saying that like this isn’t just some entrance ceremony or something. It’s just the school playing a prank on us that's all, it’s gotta be.” His hair was wild, long and dark brown, it was made into long dreads that hang down past his back.

A shrill, high pitched voice spoke up, but it didn’t sound like it came from any of us “Puhuhu, if only it were that simple... “

At the back of the gym, standing on top of the podium on the stage, was a black and white bear. On the white side, he had a dot for an eye and a mouth that looked like it belonged to a stuffed animal. On the black side, his eye was long and red, angled toward his ear at the top of his head, and he had a sickly smile full of sharp teeth. 

It looked like a teddy bear, something you’d give a significant other for valentine’s day, but its presence was terrifying, the cause of the oppressive atmosphere within the school. So more like you’d give it to a side chick or maybe a friend who you don’t like.

“Huh? A teddy bear?” The voice sounded soft, I looked around and saw a short, brown haired girl who fit the voice.

“I am not a bear. I am Monokuma!” The bear's voice pierced the air, it's like everything about him was meant to be painful, “and I am this school’s Headmaster.”

I’ve seen enough crazy stuff in my life that a talking stuffed bear isn’t too shocking, but it's definitely strange. As I looked around, I could see the others were far more shocked than I was. 

The _round_ kid beside me screamed, “Wh- What!? That teddy bear can talk!” 

A more mature sounding voice replied, “Calm down! I’m sure there's just a speaker inside it.”

“I told you already, I am not a bear, I am Monokuma, your headmaster!” He exclaimed, with his stubby arms stretched outwards

The large kid screamed again, “Wh- it moved!”

“Seriously man, calm down! It’s prolly just a remote-control toy or somethin’.” This voice sounded rougher and more relaxed than the other boys.

The bear spoke again, “How dare you compare me to a child’s plaything. You’ve cut me deep. Deeper than the Mariana Trench! My remote-control system is so complex, even the folks at NASA can’t recreate or even comprehend it. Ah, but don’t make me say stuff that might destroy NASA’s dreams. I just couldn't _bear_ that”

“ _Bear_ that? Really? You are… unfortunate.” It was a girl with long black spiraling pigtails who spoke, her voice sounded pleasant, with a hint of snobbiness to it.

“Now then, moving on! We really must hurry and get started- “ 

Junko spoke from beside me, “Giving up already? No other stupid bear puns?”

The bear ignored them, “Everyone, stand at attention and bow! And... good morning!”

The mature voice from before was the only one to bow, “Good morning,’ he shouted.

The bear continued on, “Now then, let’s talk a bit about what your school life here will be like. Now, make no mistake- you few students, so full of potential, represent the hope of the world, so to protect that hope, you will all live a communal life together solely within the confines of this school. Everyone will live in harmony together and adhere to the rules and regulations of the school.”

What? This has to be some kind of joke, right? I mean c’mon, a talking bear telling us that we have to live together with absolute strangers?

“Ah now then, regarding the end date for this communal life… “

I still don’t understand, what’s going on?

“... There isn’t one! In other words, you’ll all be here until the day you die. Such is the school life you’ve been assigned.”

A quiet, high pitched voice squeaked above the rest of the now perturbed crowd, “Wh-what did he just say? Until the day we d-die?”

The bear further confirmed our fears, “Oh, but fear not! We have quite an abundant budget, so you won’t lack for all the common conveniences”

A girl with dark blue hair interjected, “That’s the least of our worries right now!”

“Yeah, what the hell? You’re saying I have to live here forever? You’re screwing with us, right?”, Junko agreed

“I am not screwing with you! I am no liar, of that you can be one hundred percent sure” Monokuma’s high pitched voice rang in our ears, “ and just for your information, you’re completely cut off from the outside world. So you don’t have to worry about that dirty dirty land beyond these walls ever again!” 

“So those metal plates around the school,” I said, “ those are to trap us here?”

The bear replied, “That’s exactly what they’re there for. No matter how much you may yell and scream for help, help will not come. So with all of that in mind, feel free to live out your life here with reckless abandon!”

“Come on, what the hell is this? I don’t care if the school or whoever else is behind it all, this is just a really bad joke.” I couldn't recognize who the voice belonged to, it sounded too basic, like it could fit anyone here, but if I had to guess, it had to be the punk looking orange haired boy.

A boy with a large brown pompadour stepped forward and yelled with him, “ Yeah! Cut this shit out, it isn’t funny anymore.”

“You keep saying this is a lie, or a joke. A bunch of skeptics, all of you. But I guess you can’t help it huh? You all grew up in an age where you’re taught to doubt your neighbor,” he covered his twisted mouth, “Well, you’ll have plenty of time to find out whether or not what I say is true. And when that time comes, you’ll see with your own eyeballs that I speak the undeniable truth.”

The black pigtailed girl spoke again, “ Having to live here forever would be… quite the problem.”

Monokuma’s voice squeaked at us again, “ Come now, what’s the matter with all of you? You decided of your own free will to attend Hope’s Peak Academy, didn’t you? And now, before the entrance ceremony is even finished, you’ve already decided you want to leave? Oh, but you know, I guess I did forget to mention one thing. There _is_ one way for you to leave the school…” 

The quiet girl looked scared, “ R-Really?”

“Yes of course!” he replied, ”As headmaster, I’ve crafted a special clause for those of you who would like to leave! I call it the _Graduation Clause_! Now, let me tell you about this fun little rule.

“As I mentioned, in order to maintain an environment of harmony here, we rely on a communal lifestyle. And if someone were to disrupt that harmony, they and they alone would be allowed to leave the school.”

The arrogant boy seemed annoyed at the bear's tone, “What do you mean by _disrupt the harmony_?”

“Puhuhu, well, you know,” Monokuma became excited, like he could barely hold himself back from cheering and shouting, “If one person were to murder another!”

What the fuck does he mean by that? He wouldnt actually want us to murder each other, right? Everyone else seemed as shocked as me, the brown haired boy being the loudest out of all of us, “M-Murder!?”

“Stabbing, strangling, bludgeoning, crushing, hacking, drowning, igniting, how you do it doesn’t matter. You must kill someone if you want to leave, It’s as simple as that” He pointed towards all of us, “The rest is up to you. Give it your all to achieve the best outcome in the worst way possible.”

The brutal atmosphere tugged away at my voice, any words I wanted to say were gone, all I could feel was confusion and fear. I can’t believe something like this would happen, it's just so surreal. Murder? Actual killing with the people we have to live with? I don’t think I can handle something like that, I’ve dealt with difficult scenarios before but this is completely different.

“Puhuhu, I bet that got your brain juices flowing! Beats the heck out of a human catching a salmon, huh? Like I said before, you guys are the hope of the world. But you know, taking that hope and seeing it get murdered creates a darkened shadow of despair.” He let out a deep, terrifying laugh, ” And I just find that so darn exciting!”

“What the hell are you talking about!? To kill each other is-” the orange haired boy said.

Monokuma looked confused, “ To kill each other is to kill each other. I’m sure there’s a dictionary here somewhere if you need it.”

A particularly loud girl wearing a red jacket yelled at him, “We know what it means, that’s not the problem! Why do we have to kill each other!?”

“Yeah! Stop blabbering on with all this nonsense,“ The overweight boy yelled with her, “just let us go home already.”

“Blabbering?” The bear got up close to the large kid with incredible speed, ”Blabbering, blabbering, what do you mean blabbering!? Stop blabbering on about blabbering on! You guys just don’t get it, do you? _Let us go, let us go!_ You keep on saying the same thing over and over and over and over! 

“Listen. From this moment on, this school is your home, your life, your world. Got it?” He grew an insatiable grin as he raised his hands in desperation ” And you can kill as much as you wanna kill! So go ahead, go on a kill-kill-killing spree!”

The boy with dreads spoke, “Alright, come on, how long you gonna keep this up?” 

“Eh?” Monokuma seemed as confused as everyone else here was.

“You got us, okay? You scared the hell out of us. So you can go ahead and reveal the trick now.”

The bear looked offended at the presumption, “Reveal the trick?” 

“Yeah, cuz I mean, Y’know, this is all some kinda trick and all, right? So uh, like-”

That guy was definitely not the brightest of us here.

The pompadour boy pushed past him, “Dude, shut the hell up and get outta my way.” 

He sounded like a tiger growling at its prey, “ Listen up, asshole! This shit’s gone way too far. What the hell kinda joke _is_ this!?”

Monokuma chuckled, “Joke? What, you mean like your hair?”

The boy’s face turned red, “Oh you’re fucked now!”

His voice shook the room as he flew towards the bear with conviction and rage. He grabbed monokuma by the neck and held him up from the ground, “Gotcha, you little piece of shit! I dunno if you’re a toy or a stuffed animal or whatever the hell! Either way, I’m gonna rip you to fuckin’ shreds!”

Monokuma’s short arms flailed wildly in the air as he cried out towards his attacker, “Waah! Violence against the headmaster is in violation of school regulations!” 

“Shut the fuck up and let me outta here, or I swear to Christ.”

Monokuma stayed silent, like someone just turned him off.

“What, no smartass comeback this time!?”

Silence.

“Fucking say something!”

Right when he said that, a loud beeping noise started to emit from Monokuma, the beeping getting louder and faster with each second. We were all confused, but a girl with lavender hair yelled out to him, “Hurry up and throw it!” 

Her commanding tone stunned him, but he did as she said. He tossed the bear into the air, the beeping getting faster and faster, until the beeping ceased and the bear exploded into a fiery blast, blinding us.

It didn’t take long for my vision to clear, but there was still a piercing ringing in my ears. It wasn’t my first explosion, but still… 

What the fuck is happening to us.

The pompadour boy was the first to speak, “The Hell!?Th-That sure as shit wasn’t a joke, it blew the hell up.”

“But, you know, this means that the teddy bear’s been destroyed, right?” The short, soft looking girl in green said.

I hoped that maybe this would all be over, that maybe the girl was right, but then I heard his painful voice again, “I told you I’m not a teddy bear! I’m Monokuma!” 

The bear appeared from the podium again, visibly unharmed.

“Godamnit, there’s another one?” I said.

Pompadour spoke, “You son of a bitch! You seriously tried to kill me just now!”

The bear revealed sharp claws from his paws, his stare more intimidating than before, “Well, yes. I was serious about trying to kill you. You did violate one of the school regulations after all. I’ll let you off with a warning this time, but you’d better be careful from now on. Any naughty boy or girl who violates my rules won’t get off with just a little swat on the butt.”

“H-Hey, so does this mean there’s like, a bunch more of you around somewhere?” Junko sounded worried. If she were right, then that means there really is no escaping him.

“Monokumas have been placed all throughout the school, yes. Plus, don’t forget the surveillance cameras installed everywhere. And, if you’re caught breaking any rules, well, you all just saw what happened, right?” 

He laughed, “Puhuhu. Next time I won’t be so forgiving with my punishment, so don’t let it happen again!”

The girl in the red jacket’s voice shook with every word, “Th-That’s not even punishment. That’s just wrong…”

“Now then, lastly, to commemorate your joyous entry into our school, I have a little something for you” Monokuma slowly started to give out tablets to each one of us, pulling them from somewhere, it's not exactly clear, “This is our official student handbook. Pretty cool, huh? As you can see, it’s fully digital, so naturally we call it the e-Handbook!”

I tapped onto the tablet's surface twice, which woke up showing the school's crest, with my name showing up soon after. There were only a few apps on it: a map, student roster, school regulations, and something labeled evidence. 

“Ahem, anyways, moving on. This handbook is absolutely vital to a healthy school life, so don’t lose it! When you start it up, it’ll always display your name, so make sure you have the right one.

“Also, it’s completely waterproof. Splash it, wash it, drown it, it’ll keep on ticking, and thanks to its space-age design, it can withstand an impact force of up to ten tons. Very resistant! It contains all of our school regulations, so make sure you review them thoroughly. You’ll hear me say this a lot, but-” 

I interrupted him, “ Yeah I think we get it, we’ll be killed if we break any rules.”

“Exactly!” he said,” Rules are necessary for a peaceful society, without them, the world would be utter chaos. And so that still applies here, so it's extremely crucial we have strict punishments in place for violators.”

He walked back up to the podium, “Okay well, that brings our entrance ceremony to a close! Please enjoy your abundantly dreary school life!” He disappeared behind the podium, leaving all of us to deal with the situation he’s given.

“So, guys… how would you define what we just experienced?” The mature boy said, he was dressed in a clean white uniform with golden buttons, a few medals were pinned below his left shoulder.

“How? Why? I don’t understand any of this…” The punk kid said what we were all thinking, something like this just seems impossible, yet here we are.

“We have to l-live here forever? Or k-kill? Wh-What? What just happened?” the quiet girl said.

The lavender haired, detective looking girl tried her best to sound calm, “Everyone just calm down. First, let’s just take a second to summarize everything we just heard. Based on what Monokuma said, we essentially have two choices. Choice number one is that we each stay here, living a communal life together until the day we die. And the other choice is-”

The girl with large spiraling pigtails cut her off, “If we want to get out of here alive, we have to kill someone, right?”

The arrogant boy spoke, “ Is there anyone here who’s seriously considering all this?”

No one said anything to him, not even I was sure of something like that. In a situation like this, who could confidently say they wouldn’t be capable of such a thing?

The room felt tense, how were we supposed to trust anyone here. I looked around the gym and saw nothing but potential enemies, the people who might be the end of me, strangers who value their lives as much as I value mine.

Was I to even be trusted? 

I don’t know. 

I guess that’s what this was meant to do, make you doubt everyone, especially yourself. It’s meant to make you feel true despair, and after seeing the terror on everyone’s faces, I can tell it’s working.


	2. Exploration of Despair

“So? What are you going to do now?” The lavender haired girl was the first to speak, no one else dared to break the silence and tension between us, “Are you all just going to stand around and glare at each other?”

Her words helped me realize how tense my body was, “Y-Yeah, you’re right, we can’t just stand here and do nothing.”

“Well, what are we gonna do then?” The orange haired boy replied.

“We totally need to find whoever was controlling that stupid bear and beat the hell out of ‘em.” Junko said.

The girl in the green jacket could barely be heard above Junko’s voice, “B-But before we do all that, maybe we should take a look at the handbook. It’s probably best to check out the school regulations Monokuma mentioned before doing anything else.”

The girl with spiral pigtails agreed, “True. If we stumble around with no clue what the rules are, we may find ourselves in a compromising situation.” 

Junko replied with an impatient tone, “Fine. Then let’s hurry up and check out the stupid rules already.”

And so we did. I turned my tablet on and pressed on the _School Regulations_ app. A numbered list showed up on the screen: 

  1. Students may reside only within the school. Leaving campus is an unacceptable use of time. 



  1. “Nighttime” is from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. Some areas are off-limits at night, so please exercise caution.



  1. Sleeping anywhere other than the dormitory will be seen as sleeping in class and punished accordingly
  2.   
With minimal restrictions, you are free to explore Hope’s peak Academy at your discretion.



  1. Violence against Headmaster Monokuma is strictly prohibited, as is destruction of surveillance cameras.



  1. Anyone who kills a fellow student and becomes “blackened” will graduate unless they are discovered.



  1. Additional school regulations may be added as necessary.



I honestly expected more rules, but I guess he wouldn’t want to restrict us too much from murdering each other.

“This is bullshit! What the hell kinda rules are these!? I’m not gonna let them control me!” Pompadour said.

“Well then, why don’t you wander around the school without a care in the world and see what happens,” Pigtails covered her mouth and laughed. “Personally, I would love to see what happens when someone breaks one of the rules.”

The fat boy sounded worried, “But if he got punished like what we saw before, I don't think there’d be a respawn waiting for him.”

“ I…” Pompadour lowered his voice, “Ever since I was a kid, I grew up with my older brother pounding this into my head- when a man makes a promise, he has to keep it, even if it kills him.”

“So what?” Junko said.

“I’ve made a ton of promises that I still have to keep, that’s _so what_! So I can’t afford to die in here.”

Pigtails sounded annoyed, “None of that made much sense to me, but you are saying you will follow the regulations, is that it?” 

“Huh? Oh, well yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Blue hair’s quiet voice spoke up amongst their chatter, “Hey, um, I have a question. For regulation number six, what do you think it means exactly?”

“Well my guess is that if you do happen to murder someone, you have to hide the body too or something like that,” I said.

One of the girls spoke, a shy looking girl who wore round glasses, “B-but why? Why do we h-have to do that?” 

The arrogant boy replied, “Just worry about following the rules as they’ve been explained to us. Frankly, I don't want to hear anything from someone who waits for others to decide what to do for them.”

The shy girl grew a creepy grin, “D-Don’t jab at me… “

Red jacket interrupted her, “Well for now, let’s forget all that silly junk about murderers or whatever. Now that we know the rules, let’s start exploring the school.”

White uniform agreed, “True, we need to find out where exactly we are. Is there any way out? What about food and supplies? There are tons of questions we need to answer.”

“Damn straight! Okay then, let’s all start looking around-” Orange hair said, but the arrogant one cut him off before he could finish, “I’ll be going alone.”

“What!? Why? That’s a pretty stupid idea, don’t you think?”, Junko replied.

Surprisingly, I actually agreed with the arrogant boy, “Honestly I say let him, no reason to force people to do something they don’t want to do.”

“Exactly, and are you forgetting that one of us could possibly already be plotting our deaths, why would I want to stand around with them and make it that much easier for them.”

“W-Wait, hold on a sec,” Blue hair said, ”That would never-”

“Don’t bother saying it couldn’t happen. You can’t deny the possibility. That’s why you all seized up with fear when that graduation rule was made clear to you. Am I wrong?”

“Look man, you’re not wrong but you don’t have to be a dick about it.” I said. He’s definitely not the nicest person in the world.

“Heh, sometimes being blunt is the only way to get the point across with plebeians like you.”

Pompadour’s voice roared, “Fuckin’ Plebeian, huh. Don’t just think you can call me whatever the fuck you want,” He got in front of the blonde haired boy. 

The arrogant one sneered at him, “Out of my way, plankton.” 

“The fuck’s that supposed to mean!?” His voice grew loud with anger.

Blonde haired chuckled, “One tiny bit of plankton, drifting across the sea. So miniscule, so insignificant, they couldn’t possibly have any kind of influence on the boundless ocean.”

Pompadour had a grin full of bloodlust, “I’m gonna kick your ass!”

The brown haired boy ran up to both of them before Pompadour could get close enough, “Stop it! We shouldn’t fight.”

They both stared at him, Pompadour the first to speak, “The fuck you just say? You some kinda goody-goody little bitch? Who do you think you are, talkin’ to me like that? You think you’re my fuckin’ dad or something!?”

Brown hair started to slowly back up, “N-No, I wasn’t-”

“Fuck you!” Pompadour hit the boy with incredible strength, launching him back. Blue hair screamed as we rushed to his side. He was out cold, he’s probably never been punched before, especially not by someone as big as Pompadour.

“Oh shit, I didn’t mean to knock him out.” Pompadour looked back at Blonde hair, but he already left us in the commotion.

“Well whatever, you can apologize to him later. We need to focus on finding a way out, so you… “ I pointed at the blue haired girl, “ You mind staying here with him? Probably wouldn't be the best to just leave him alone.”

“Y-yeah sure,” she said, “Sakura you mind staying with me too?”

The big, white haired girl nodded and walked up to brown hair and rolled him onto his side, then sat down right next to Blue. 

“With that taken care of, let's all split into groups, doesn’t matter how many in each, just as long there’s three people, it should be fine.” After I said that, everyone began to mumble to each other, but I still continued, “Also, we should meet up at night time back here in the gym to go over all the stuff we find.”

White uniform continued after me, “Exactly what I was thinking. Please be punctual to the meeting people! Punctuality is everything in life, and it would be a shame to waste more time here than needed.”

I nodded with him and went over to talk to Junko.

She spoke first, “Didn’t think he’d actually punch the guy. What an idiot, the least we need right now is more problems.”

I sighed, “Yeah, well we still gotta search around the school, so do you wanna maybe go together?”

She grinned at me, “ Are you trying to hit on me?”

“No, not at all. At least not yet.”

“Yeah yeah whatever you say bud. We still need one more though, right? So.... “ She looked towards the short brown haired girl in green, “Why don’t we ask her?”

I nodded, “Yeah, why not.”

We both walked up to her, which she seemed surprised about. I spoke, “ Doesn’t seem like you have a group yet, wanna join us?”

The girl’s face lit up, “Really? Sure I’ll join!”

Junko replied, “Cool, but either of you have an idea of where to start?” 

“I dunno maybe the dorms?” I shrugged, “We are gonna be living there after all.” 

“Well, why don’t we start with introductions first,” The short girl smiled, “I’m Chihiro Fujisaki, the Ultimate Programmer. It’s nice to meet you!”

Her voice was small and soft, which definitely matched her small stature. She had short brown hair and hazel colored eyes. The green jacket she wore seemed to be a part of a winter uniform and there was a white shirt with a peter pan collar beneath the long sleeved green jacket with a black ribbon securing it all. She also had a light brown skirt that stopped just before her knees. Her knee-high black socks and white ribboned mary janes also helped give her a doll-like appearance.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Chihiro,” I introduced myself, but there was a slight furrow in her brow when I finished, almost like she didn’t believe me.

I smiled at her, and after Junko introduced herself, we started our investigation, leaving the gym. We ignored the trophy room and continued deeper into the school until we ended up at the passageway labeled _Despair Hotel._ After going through the iron gate that blocked the entrance, we entered the Dormitory.

The dormitory was spacious, with a cafeteria to the right and a bathhouse to the left immediately when you entered. Next to the bathhouse was also a laundry room, and just down the hallway to the right, was another set of stairs beside a storage room.

The rooms were in a U shape, in the center was the incinerator room and pink and blue colored bathrooms. There were six rooms on both sides of the U, with four more in the back. The doors to the rooms seemed sturdy, but plain except for the nameplates on each one.

We looked for our names on the doors and found that Chihiro’s room was to the right side, while mine and Junko’s were on the left side. We first checked out my room, which had far more in it then I expected. The room itself was in a T-shape, the entrance being a small hallway leading into the actual room. It was surprisingly spacious, easily enough room for two people.

My bed was in the far left corner of the room, with a large brown desk beside it covering a section of the back wall. On the walls were metal plates like everywhere else in the school, but there were also tools resting on tool racks next to the desk, the kind of stuff I used back in my normal life: blowtorches, hammers, screwdrivers, and soldering kits.

There was also a table in the room with a single wooden chair for it. On it was a key, presumably for my room. I looked around and also saw there was a bathroom on the right side of the entrance, the door to it being across from the tools. Above where the table was, there was a t.v, and above the bed, there was a camera, they both looked like the ones in the rest of the school. Lastly, there was a clock beside the t.v showing that the time was currently eight thirty p.m.

“What the hell you need tools for, you gonna torture someone with them?” Junko said from behind me.

I smiled back at her, “Depends, you into that?” 

She laughed and shook her head while Chihiro seemed shocked.

Chihiro spoke in a terrified voice, “W-Wait, have you actually tortured people before? I thought you were just joking when you said you were the Ultimate Crime Boss.” 

“Well, yeah I definitely have experience in torture, but I’ve only ever had to do it against people who have done way worse than that. Just because I lead a gang doesn’t mean everything I do is bad, it's just that I break the law a bunch,” I grinned towards her, “I swear I'm not that mean.”

Junko sat on my bed, “How’d you even get into being a crime boss anyways? I kinda just assumed you were born into it or something.”

I ran my fingers over the tools on the wall, “Nah, I actually was born into a pretty good life. Parents weren’t strict, good amount of friends, good grades, but I guess you could say I was just bored and wanted something to do. So I made this gang, and over time, it controlled far more than what the media would tell ya.”

“Oh really? What’s the name, I might’ve heard of it before.”

“It's called the Safeguard of Talos.” 

“Sounds like something out of a comic book, but I guess I’ll believe you, _for now_ ,” She sneered.

“Yeah it shouldn’t be surprising that some white suburban kid who grew up off of superheroes can’t think of a good gang name.”

Chihiro chuckled nervously and the three of us left the room to check out Junko’s, whose room was to the left of mine. Before we left, I grabbed my key and locked the door behind me.

When we entered her room, it was visibly different. Same design, but lacked all the things that would fit the Ultimate Fashionista.

“That’s strange, I kinda expected more,” Junko said.

Chihiro agreed, “Yeah, maybe they just forgot your room or something”

“Maybe. It sucks though, how else am I supposed to do my makeup, or like, anything at all?”

“Heh, I’m sure if you asked Monokuma nice enough he’d give you _something_ to do your makeup with.” I said.

She had a disgusted look on her face, “Like I would ever trust that freaky bear. Let’s just check out Chihiro’s room.”

We all walked out and after Junko locked her door, we entered Chihiro’s room on the other side of the dormitory. Her room had the same layout as every other one so far, the only real difference was in decorations, with the large telescope replacing the table and 4 computer monitors and a camera on her desk.

“Wow okay, so you get a computer, I guess it would sense for the Ultimate Programmer, but why the telescope?” Junko said.

“Who knows,” Chihiro replied,” It’s impossible to know what that bear is planning.”

“Well while we’re here, let's check them for anything useful.”

Chihiro walked to the desk and shook the computers’ mouse. The monitors came to life, revealing a blank desktop with 3 files on it: _Monokuma_1_ , _Exit_ , and _Killing_Game_ . Chihiro clicked on the first one, and after a few seconds of loading, showed a _surprising_ picture, to say the least.

I sighed, “What the fuck is wrong with that bear.”

It was Monokuma dressed in black lingerie, not actually covering anything, since y’know, he’s a bear.

I could feel the others’ disgust as Chihiro quickly closed the picture and went on to the next file. Exit was a blank text file, so she went to the next, and disappointedly, there was another picture of Monokuma, this time stabbing another Monokuma to death.

“Well, that was disappointing,” Junko groaned, ”At least we know our rooms are fine. They shouldn’t be too bad, even with the cameras”

“Yeah, but actually there’s one more thing I want to test that's been on my mind. ” I look over to the two, “Can you two step out of the room for a sec, I want to test how thin the walls are.”

Junko nodded and they both walked out.

I closed the door after them, and stood at the entrance. I screamed as loud and high pitched as my voice would go. I went until my voice felt like it was going to give out at any second. After finishing what was really a good stress reliever, I opened the door, the two of them waiting there for me, “So, did you hear anything?”

“What, we didn’t even know you did anything yet,” Chihiro said.

I laughed, “I guess we know the rooms are one hundred percent soundproof.”

We all walked back to the bed, Junko sat on one side while I sat on the other, Chihiro instead sat at her desk, ”What do we do now? The meeting time isn’t till 10, and it’s currently-“ Junko looked towards the clock in the room, ” only 9 p.m. We got one hour to waste.”

“Well, you’ve been asking me questions all day, why don’t I ask you some.” I grinned at Junko, “How’d you even get started as a fashionista? It doesn’t seem like the kinda thing to just accidentally stumble into.”

Her look seemed one filled with regret., “Yeah, you’re right. Parents started me young, I was a child model for small fashion labels, and sometimes they forced me to do beauty pageants, but as I got older, bigger businesses started to take interest in me. Then one day, I was on every cover of every fashion magazine in Japan.”  
  


“Wow, I’ve never heard of you before, but I guess that’s just cause I haven’t been to Japan long enough to take in things like that. I’ve heard model work is tough, though. Did you at least like it?”

She looked at me, her eyes sad, “I don’t really know. I mean, I liked the attention and the money, but I guess I always saw it as something I was just meant to do.”

She smiled, one that I could tell was fake, “Well, that was more depressing than intended.”

“It’s fine, kinda expected in a situation like this. Anyways, what about you Chihiro,” I turned around towards her, “ You got a cool origin story like us?”

She seemed to have taken that far more seriously than intended, “N-No not at all, I’m nothing like you guys. My dad was a software engineer so he’d always tell me about all the cool projects he was working on, so I guess I wanted to be just like him.”

She sighed, “I just happened to be good at it, but I’m definitely not Ultimate level, I’ve met far better programmers than me.”

I replied, “Yeah but you’re the one here, not them.” 

She was shocked at my words.

”I-I mean not that being here is good right now, but y’know, you’re the Ultimate programmer, not them.” I stammered. It’d probably be better for them not to be an Ultimate right now, but I shouldn’t ruin the mood more. 

“Yeah I know what you mean, but… “ Her words trailed off into inaudible mumbling.

I spoke over her, trying to help, “Y’know, for everything that’s happening, I’m kinda glad I’m stuck here with you guys.” I smiled at Junko, “ You two seem nice enough.”

She laughed, “Yeah, you too man.”

Chihiro started typing something on her computer, it seems like the Ultimate programmer has already started doing what she does best, so me and Junko continued our conversation.

“Besides all the modeling stuff, what else did you do?” 

“Ah well, I went to school, worked out, I didn't really have much time for anything else. I actually had to do a lot of my schoolwork while at the photo shoots since I barely had any free time.”

“Fuck that sounds miserable, I can’t say my life is anything like that. I get a lot of free time, basically everything is done for me, I just have to regulate things every now and then,” I laughed through my words, “ I just played video games or tinkered away at different ideas that were in my mind.”

“What kind of ideas?” She inquired.

“Well I like to build robots and stuff, nothing too spectacular, it’s just a hobby.”

“Oh really? What kind of robots have you built?” She seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say.

“Well I try to give each one a _power_ in a sense, so far the best that I’ve built was this thing I called Talos. I made it look like it had super strength- like there was this one time when I was testing it, I tried to have it punch a tree in half, and it damn near brought the whole forest down. I’ve also built other smaller drones and robots for protection purposes, but nothing nearly as incredible as Talos.”

She was surprised, “Damn, doesn’t seem much like a hobby. It seems more like you’re the Ultimate Roboticist, not some crime boss.”

“Yeah I guess it does seem that way. Crime is way more interesting to me than just robots, though. But I guess if the gang thing doesn’t work out, maybe I can make robots in prison or something.” 

She laughed, “Maybe they’d actually let you, you never know.” Her eyes wandered over to the clock, ‘Oh shit, it’s almost ten already, time went by faster than I thought.”

“We should probably head to the gym, by the time we get there it’ll probably be ten.”

She agreed and after getting Chihiro’s attention, we walked towards the gym.

When we got there, the TV’s in the gym lit up with life, Monokuma being on the center of the screen sitting on an office chair. Behind him were ten or so monitors showing indiscernible footage.

Monokuma’s shrill voice blared over the TV’s speakers, “Ahem, this is a school announcement. It is now ten p.m. As such, it is officially night time, soon the doors to the dining hall will be locked, and entry at that point is strictly prohibited. Okay then, sweet dreams everyone! Goodnight, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.”

The t.v then turned off, thankfully saving us from more of the bear’s voice. People started to file into the gym after the announcement finished, but a few people were already in the gym when we arrived..

The white uniformed boy was the first to speak, “This looks like everyone! So let's all go around and share what each of us found in our respective investigations. The sooner we-” 

Junko interrupted him, “Wait, hold up. What about that purple haired girl? I didn’t get her name but I definitely don’t see her here.”

We all looked around, and sure enough, she wasn’t here. Fear set itself in our throats and deep into our minds. We were reminded of Monokuma’s words, the _killing game_ as he called it. Has one of us already fallen? It hasn’t even been a day, but I can’t deny the possibility.

“Whatever,” I said, “Let’s just discuss what we found first, then we can worry about where she went. I’m sure she’s just investigating by herself.”

“Y-Yeah definitely,” The mature boy replied.

Knowing no one else really felt like talking, I continued, “Alright I’ll go first. Junko, Chihiro and I checked the dorms, which seem normal enough- Safe at least. Each one has been tailored to our specific talents, with different decorations or items there relating to them.

“The rooms are also extremely soundproof, you could scream as loud as you want without anyone hearing you. There’s also a camera in each of the rooms, so besides those two things, the rooms are what you’d expect.”

Junko carried on with what I was saying, “Yeah and each room has their own bathroom, but it seems like only the girl’s have locks.”

The brown haired boy seemed confused, but didn’t speak up, instead, the energetic girl spoke, “Me, Mondo, and Leon all tried looking all around the school for something to communicate with the outside with, but we couldn’t find anything… “ 

Pompadour, presumably Mondo, spoke after her, ”Yeah, we also tried checking the main hall but all we could find was this big vault door over the entrance with guns aimed at it. We also tried prying off those stupid metal plates over the windows, but no luck, they’re bolted on there for good.”

Orange hair, Leon I guess, started to speak, “There were also staircases that lead to the second floor, but they were all blocked off by a metal gate. Even with Mondo here, we couldn’t force our way through, it seems like we’re completely locked in.

“Yeah, as far as we can tell, we can only search the first floor for now.” The energetic girl said, “ There are still more floors, so who knows if they might lead to a way out.”

“Well that’s better than nothing,” I said, I looked towards the next group of people which consisted of Dreads, Black Pigtails, Round guy, and the shy girl, ” What about you guys, you find anything good?”

The guy with dreads spoke, “Well about that… “

The black pigtailed girl continued for him, “We didn’t quite act as one as you might’ve expected. We, more or less, stayed in the gym. I can’t speak for the others, but I'm definitely not the kind to run around trying to be a junior detective.”

I can see where they’re coming from, but with something like this, you can’t just sit around and do nothing. Junko had seemed to have thought of the same thing, “What the hell were you thinking just sitting around the gym the whole time?”

The shy girl replied first, “ W-Well it’s not like any of you i-invited me along. Nobody said, hey, c-come with us!” She pointed at Junko, “ I blame y-you for leaving me out! I-It’s your fault.”

“If you wanted to go with someone, you should’ve just said something.” Junko’s tone had a hint of annoyance to it.

Shy girl looked away and mumbled her words just loud enough for us to hear, “Hmph. F-Forget it. Like I’d want to go anywhere with a s-slut like you.”

“Slut?”

I cut in before things could get worse, “ Alright cut it out guys, petty arguments like this are just gonna make things worse.” I sighed and looked over to the last group, “You find anything?”

The blue haired girl started to speak, “ Oh me? Yeah I found out that the kitchen is filled with food and stuff, and it gets restocked daily by Monokuma, so we shouldn’t have any problems with that”

I looked over everyone again, making sure to remember everything they said, “I guess that’s everyone then. Kinda disappointing that we found no way out, but things could be much worse. Anyways I think we should start meeting in the dining hall after every morning announcement. It’d be good for the fear and paranoia in our heads, and since it seems like we’re gonna be here for a bit, it wouldn’t hurt to get to know each other,“ 

I smiled, trying to lighten the mood a bit, “And what better way is there to bond than having breakfast together.” 

It didn’t seem to work, but they didn’t seem to be against my idea. 

Brown hair finally said something, “Yeah, I guess it wouldn’t hurt _that_ much,” he chuckled, ”but if the meeting is done, we should probably get to sleep.”

Everyone nodded with him, “Alright yeah, let’s get some sleep. See you all tomorrow then.” I waved at everyone as they started to walk out of the gym until it was only me and Junko left.

“Slut… “ she said, “ What kind of person calls someone that before they even know their name?”

“Someone not worth wasting energy thinking about, that’s for sure.” I sighed. We both left the gym in silence and walked to our dorm rooms. 

When I entered my room and laid on my bed, my entire body felt weak. I was tired, I could barely move. This whole experience has just been so draining, even with everything I’ve been through before.

Will this killing game even start? I hope not, but with every second that passed, that hope faded as if a dark seed of despair was planted into my heart and was eating away at me. I could feel that seed grow and grow, slowly consuming me. It’s shadow tore away at my thoughts, setting off every alarm in my head, until eventually, I fell into a deep, restless sleep.


End file.
